Chris Stanley on tue 21 aug 01
Here in West Texas we use Borax. Not only can you use it in your Raku
glazes, but also it works great on scorpions, spiders, and ants. The local
county extension agent also swears by instant grits for fire ants. The
little bastards carry it down to the next, digest and blow up. Massive,
spontaneous expansion of dehydrated grits in a little tiny belly and the
things go boom.
Chris
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Karen Sullivan
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2001 10:25 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: HELP.....an invasion of a flood of killer ants
The bamboo is here...I need help.....
Two months ago I moved from the miner's shack two blocks
down the street to a house...more room...I spent a couple
of weeks cleaning the house...painting...and moving in.
Now two months into the residence and I have an invasion of
ants...THEY ARE IN EVERY ROOM...on almost EVERY SURFACE....
I feel like I am living inside their nest....
I thought at first they were coming in for water...as they
just showed up....
I go outside and the ground is crawling with a huge number of
ants....more than is normal.
I live under a canopy of giant trees.
So I think they are using the house as the ground level
residence and nest up in the trees..
Seems they used to spray pesticides every month or so.
My problem is I do not want to live in a cloud of pesticides.
I need to know if there is an ecologically sound alternative
so quelling the invasion. I have images of Guillver's Travels...
the image is one in which I am transported into another room by
an army of creatures that have decided that I am in their way...
Please if possible give me advice...
many thanks....bamboo karen
____________________________________________________________________________
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Martin Howard on tue 21 aug 01
Can we in GB have a translation please? Sounds like really wicked stuff!
But wouldn't it be great if we had a living plan for each kind of 'pest'
that did not involve killing them?
Knowing something of the reason why they invade what we laughingly call
'our' territory and what their likes and dislikes are would still give
commerce something to sell us.
So come on you experts on creepy crawlies; let's have the low-down on these
creatures, so we can then treat them with a little kindness, instead of
brute chemical force.
Martin Howard, spending time each evening 'redirecting' snails away from our
vegetable patch at
Webb's Cottage Pottery
Woolpits Road, Great Saling
BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
England
martin@webbscottage.co.uk
http://www.webbscottage.co.uk
Earl Brunner on tue 21 aug 01
Run a honey trail from your house to Martin's house and send them to
him. There aren't any ants in GB the weather drowns them.
Martin Howard wrote:
>
> Can we in GB have a translation please? Sounds like really wicked stuff!
>
> But wouldn't it be great if we had a living plan for each kind of 'pest'
> that did not involve killing them?
> Knowing something of the reason why they invade what we laughingly call
> 'our' territory and what their likes and dislikes are would still give
> commerce something to sell us.
>
> So come on you experts on creepy crawlies; let's have the low-down on these
> creatures, so we can then treat them with a little kindness, instead of
> brute chemical force.
>
> Martin Howard, spending time each evening 'redirecting' snails away from our
> vegetable patch at
> Webb's Cottage Pottery
> Woolpits Road, Great Saling
> BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
> England
>
> martin@webbscottage.co.uk
> http://www.webbscottage.co.uk
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
--
Earl Brunner
http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec/
bruec@anv.net
Edouard Bastarache on tue 21 aug 01
LAFFFFFFFFFFFF Earl
Edouard Bastarache
Irreductible Quebecois
Sorel-Tracy
Quebec
edouardb@sorel-tracy.qc.ca
http://sorel-tracy.qc.ca/~edouardb/
http://www.absolutearts.com/portfolios/e/edouardb/
----- Original Message -----
From: Earl Brunner
To:
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2001 7:27 PM
Subject: Re: West Texas insect control
> Run a honey trail from your house to Martin's house and send them to
> him. There aren't any ants in GB the weather drowns them.
>
> Martin Howard wrote:
>
> >
> > Can we in GB have a translation please? Sounds like really wicked stuff!
> >
> > But wouldn't it be great if we had a living plan for each kind of 'pest'
> > that did not involve killing them?
> > Knowing something of the reason why they invade what we laughingly call
> > 'our' territory and what their likes and dislikes are would still give
> > commerce something to sell us.
> >
> > So come on you experts on creepy crawlies; let's have the low-down on
these
> > creatures, so we can then treat them with a little kindness, instead of
> > brute chemical force.
> >
> > Martin Howard, spending time each evening 'redirecting' snails away from
our
> > vegetable patch at
> > Webb's Cottage Pottery
> > Woolpits Road, Great Saling
> > BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
> > England
> >
> > martin@webbscottage.co.uk
> > http://www.webbscottage.co.uk
> >
> >
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> > Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
> >
> > You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> > settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
> >
> > Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
>
>
> --
> Earl Brunner
> http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec/
> bruec@anv.net
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
Tommy Humphries on tue 21 aug 01
come on down to east texas, and I will introduce you to the imported s.
american fireant. after one sting from these terrors, you will understand
why ERADICATION is the only option for these introduced pests. not to
mention the fact that many of the beneficial insects are gone, as well as
most of the ground nesting birds.
http://fireant.tamu.edu/antfacts/index.html
I have heard that several labs here in the states are studying colonies of
the s. american bullet ants...larger with a sting 20 times as potent as the
fire ant...hope they don't let them get loose, or we will really be in for
it.
Tommy Humphries
----- Original Message -----
From: "Martin Howard"
To:
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2001 2:52 PM
Subject: West Texas insect control
>
> Can we in GB have a translation please? Sounds like really wicked stuff!
>
> But wouldn't it be great if we had a living plan for each kind of 'pest'
> that did not involve killing them?
> >
> So come on you experts on creepy crawlies; let's have the low-down on
these
> creatures, so we can then treat them with a little kindness, instead of
> brute chemical force.
>
> Martin Howard, spending time each evening 'redirecting' snails away from
our
> vegetable patch at
> Webb's Cottage Pottery
> Woolpits Road, Great Saling
> BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
> England
>
> martin@webbscottage.co.uk
> http://www.webbscottage.co.uk
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
>
Chris Stanley on tue 21 aug 01
Grits: As in Hominy and Grits are a corn based food stuff that would
equivalent to Polenta. We purchase these in cans (the hydrated version) and
in a flake or powder (dehydrated version). As to the comment regarding the
insects and "our space", if you have never been on the receiving end of a
fire ant swarm then you would understand. Imagine being stung by a couple
hundred bees at one time, then image if those bees could crawl up your
shorts!
Chris
Martin Howard on wed 22 aug 01
Wrong, Earl. They collect inside our back door, all ready to resist any
invasion from the USA:-)
But ours are well trained and don't now invade the kitchen working surfaces.
Martin Howard
Webb's Cottage Pottery
Woolpits Road, Great Saling
BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
England
martin@webbscottage.co.uk
http://www.webbscottage.co.uk
Martin Howard on wed 22 aug 01
nesting birds.>
This is the situation in so many parts of the world. Humans have moved
things around; exterminated the natural predators; imported others into the
ecological gaps made; set up new imbalances; then we moan about it, create
really nasty chemical pesticides; and poison ourselves as well!!
As potters, we should understand balance, because that is what we are trying
to achieve in our ware and glazes.
Martin Howard
Webb's Cottage Pottery
Woolpits Road, Great Saling
BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
England
martin@webbscottage.co.uk
http://www.webbscottage.co.uk
Steve Mills on wed 22 aug 01
Wrong! British Ants are accomplished swimmers. I know that from the many
Red Ant nests on my back lawn, and those little bugger can bite!
Steve
Not lying on the grass in the (occasional) sun in
Bath
UK
In message , Earl Brunner writes
>Run a honey trail from your house to Martin's house and send them to
>him. There aren't any ants in GB the weather drowns them.
>
--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
Earl Brunner on wed 22 aug 01
LOL. I was in GB for two years back at the end of the 70's, early 80's.
Remember that I lived and grew up in the Southwestern U.S. desert.
Anyway I got there in early March and never saw the sun for 90 days. I
remember days when it wasn't raining and just riding my bicycle down the
road I would get drenched. You sure all the ants aren't drowned? Or do
British ants know how to swim?
Martin Howard wrote:
>
> Wrong, Earl. They collect inside our back door, all ready to resist any
> invasion from the USA:-)
>
> But ours are well trained and don't now invade the kitchen working surfaces.
>
> Martin Howard
> Webb's Cottage Pottery
> Woolpits Road, Great Saling
> BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
> England
--
Earl Brunner
http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec/
bruec@anv.net
Janet Kaiser on thu 23 aug 01
'Ello, 'ello, 'ello. Wot 'av we 'ere? Brit-bashing you
'orrible liddle lot? I'll 'av you know, we 'ere Limeys
and Taffies 'av whole armies of aunts, so you wotch it
mate!
Seriously, as far as I know the only insects which can
cause serious problems to potters here in the UK, are
the woodlice... Get one in a pot and it will cause
serious lime popping (aka lime spitting). Because they
just love the dark, damp conditions in the clay reclaim
bins and whole families scrabble under bits, it is easy
to incarcerate them without knowing about it. Bad news
for the unwitting woodlouse and unwary potter.
Janet Kaiser
The Chapel of Art . Capel Celfyddyd
HOME OF THE INTERNATIONAL POTTERS' PATH
Criccieth LL52 0EA, GB-Wales Tel: (01766) 523570
E-mail: postbox@the-coa.org.uk
WEBSITE: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
----- Original Message -----
> what are they like when they're standing up?
> not been a problem here this year - mind you, we're
talking about a country
> where basil doesn't grow, tomatoes don't ripen, slugs
and snails are in
> sufficient numbers to be threatening, and... - sorry
knock at the door....
> it's the tourism police - got to go...
Martin Howard on thu 23 aug 01
British ants know how to swim?>
Those near the coast or living in Bath, swim.
Others have their own umbrellas made out of the many fungi for which GB is
famous.
Others seal the entrances to the nest with clay from Webb's Pottery, until
the storm finishes. They have a special mix of cat litter and sand, which
expands when the rain comes and can be rolled aside, because of the
sandwiches there, when the sun comes out.
Fascinating creatures; worthy of much study, when lying in the grass.
Martin Howard
Webb's Cottage Pottery
Woolpits Road, Great Saling
BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
England
martin@webbscottage.co.uk
http://www.webbscottage.co.uk
Richard Jeffery on thu 23 aug 01
what are they like when they're standing up?
not been a problem here this year - mind you, we're talking about a country
where basil doesn't grow, tomatoes don't ripen, slugs and snails are in
sufficient numbers to be threatening, and... - sorry knock at the door....
it's the tourism police - got to go.....
Richard
Bournemouth UK
www.TheEleventhHour.co.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Martin Howard
Sent: 23 August 2001 07:43
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: West Texas insect control
British ants know how to swim?>
Those near the coast or living in Bath, swim.
Others have their own umbrellas made out of the many fungi for which GB is
famous.
Others seal the entrances to the nest with clay from Webb's Pottery, until
the storm finishes. They have a special mix of cat litter and sand, which
expands when the rain comes and can be rolled aside, because of the
sandwiches there, when the sun comes out.
Fascinating creatures; worthy of much study, when lying in the grass.
Martin Howard
Webb's Cottage Pottery
Woolpits Road, Great Saling
BRAINTREE, Essex CM7 5DZ
England
martin@webbscottage.co.uk
http://www.webbscottage.co.uk
____________________________________________________________________________
__
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
Philip Poburka on fri 24 aug 01
Dear Janet!
Is not a 'Wood-louse' to your sunny, dust choked flat and arid Isle, what we
would regard as a
'Pill-Bug'?
'Rolly-Polly-Bug'? ...or whatever the hell we call them here?...uhhhh...a
"Sow-Bug"?
Relative of the 'millipede' I believe...stubby...rolls into a 'sphere' if
offended or afraid...?
To a metric way-of-faith, perhaps obtaining one-and-one-half of Centimetres
in
Length, and maybe seven-millimetres of breadth?
.."Black", or 'Licorice-Black'...or a 'Raven's Claw' Black...?
Or in other of Christendom, maybe a half-Inch in the Long, and a Quarter,
there-abouts in the wide...?
I may know them...
Philip
in Cool, overcast, damp, verdant and historically rich 'Las Vegas'...the
'Jewell' of the Colorado...and the 'Mecca' of the eastheticly disposed...
Much of it, a bucolic...'non-pear-eel'...
........................*...........................*.....................
*......................*.........................*........................*
...................*.................
> 'Ello, 'ello, 'ello. Wot 'av we 'ere? Brit-bashing you
> 'orrible liddle lot? I'll 'av you know, we 'ere Limeys
> and Taffies 'av whole armies of aunts, so you wotch it
> mate!
>
> Seriously, as far as I know the only insects which can
> cause serious problems to potters here in the UK, are
> the woodlice... Get one in a pot and it will cause
> serious lime popping (aka lime spitting). Because they
> just love the dark, damp conditions in the clay reclaim
> bins and whole families scrabble under bits, it is easy
> to incarcerate them without knowing about it. Bad news
> for the unwitting woodlouse and unwary potter.
>
> Janet Kaiser
> The Chapel of Art . Capel Celfyddyd
> HOME OF THE INTERNATIONAL POTTERS' PATH
> Criccieth LL52 0EA, GB-Wales Tel: (01766) 523570
> E-mail: postbox@the-coa.org.uk
> WEBSITE: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> > what are they like when they're standing up?
> > not been a problem here this year - mind you, we're
> talking about a country
> > where basil doesn't grow, tomatoes don't ripen, slugs
> and snails are in
> > sufficient numbers to be threatening, and... - sorry
> knock at the door....
> > it's the tourism police - got to go...
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
Jane Vernon on sat 25 aug 01
In message , Janet Kaiser
writes
>Seriously, as far as I know the only insects which can
>cause serious problems to potters here in the UK, are
>the woodlice... Get one in a pot and it will cause
>serious lime popping (aka lime spitting). Because they
>just love the dark, damp conditions in the clay reclaim
>bins and whole families scrabble under bits, it is easy
>to incarcerate them without knowing about it. Bad news
>for the unwitting woodlouse and unwary potter.
I didn't know about this. I've never worried about the odd dead insect
falling into the slurry bucket. Are there other insects which have this
effect, or is it something peculiar to woodlice.
Jane
http://www.otbo.demon.co.uk
Tommy Humphries on sat 25 aug 01
Not sure what are woodlice...do they live in E. Texas??
One time I needed just one more bat to set the last crock on, and I
remembered seeing some old ones piled up out in back of the shop. I went
and grabbed one and placed it and the crock on a board on the drying rack.
Come Monday morning went to trim the crocks and when I pick up this
particular crock it seems really light. Turned it over to find a colony of
termites had moved from the old plywood bat, to the nice soft cool clay.
They had tunneled the walls of the crock almost completely away, leaving the
outside looking whole. Those were really industrious critters!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Janet Kaiser"
To:
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 5:56 PM
Subject: Re: West Texas insect control
>
> Seriously, as far as I know the only insects which can
> cause serious problems to potters here in the UK, are
> the woodlice... Get one in a pot and it will cause
> serious lime popping (aka lime spitting).
Des Howard on sun 26 aug 01
Jane
All of our clay scraps are stored dry in sacks & then
put into the 100 gal. blunger, no probs there, the bugs
(plus the leaves, twigs & sheep manure, we dig our clay)
come out during the sieving.
We have removed drowned bats & frogs from the blunger though.
Doesn't happen since we put a cement sheet lid on the blunger.
Can't keep all the wildlife out, the frogs that live under the lip of the
workshop toilet bowl can give you a startle when they're flushed out.
Des
Jane Vernon wrote:
> In message , Janet Kaiser
> writes
> >Seriously, as far as I know the only insects which can
> >cause serious problems to potters here in the UK, are
> >the woodlice... Get one in a pot and it will cause
> >serious lime popping (aka lime spitting). Because they
> >just love the dark, damp conditions in the clay reclaim
> >bins and whole families scrabble under bits, it is easy
> >to incarcerate them without knowing about it. Bad news
> >for the unwitting woodlouse and unwary potter.
>
> I didn't know about this. I've never worried about the odd dead insect
> falling into the slurry bucket. Are there other insects which have this
> effect, or is it something peculiar to woodlice.
>
> Jane
--
Des & Jan Howard
Lue Pottery
LUE NSW 2850
Australia
Ph/Fax 02 6373 6419
http://www.luepottery.hwy.com.au
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